Various ways to bend and shape visors of baseball caps have been used for some time. A visor's main distinguishing characteristic typically includes a fabric covered canopy made of cardboard or plastic generally affixed to a portion of the rim of the flexible crown of a baseball cap. The visor is adapted to extend over the eyes of the wearer to shade the wearer's eyes. Other similar visors are affixed to hat gear that have no crown for the head of a user, but rather are affixed to a rim that fits around the user's head and extend over the eyes, leaving the top of the user's head exposed. Preferably, the visor of a hat shades and protects portions of the wearer's face from the sun, wind, rain, and other elements.
The visor is usually made of a material to give it a certain amount of stiffness to retain a desired shape. Unfortunately, the fabric of the visor gets dirty or torn over time. By grasping the visor with the user's hands, the user often will manually bend the visor to a desired curvature according to the user's preference. By constantly manipulating the cap visor, the visor gets dirty and even torn over time from such normal use. Other visors are somewhat pre-curved from the manufacturer but still are constantly handled by the user. The curvature of the visor, over time, gets out of shape and the user has to start over, compounding the problem of the visor getting dirtier and more worn.
Thus, maintaining a particular desired curvature of the visor requires a constant effort. In any case, no presently known device addresses the need for permanently curving the baseball cap visor to only one very rigid shape, while keeping the baseball cap visor clean, hiding dirty and worn spots or tears, and decorating the visor.
Many devices for baseball cap type visor shaping exist in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,652 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,146 both issued to Levin relate to a cap visor shaping, transport, storage, washing and/or display device including a lateral member with two hook tabs extending up to retain a cap visor with the lateral or central member being arched upwardly in the center with the hook tabs forming a shoulder to receive both sides of a cap visor. An elastic strap extends over the top of the visor to bend the visor to a desired curvature.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,367 issued to McCallister teaches a similar device for bending a cap visor. The device includes first and second interconnected block members each having an S-shaped portion upwardly extending from the outer edge thereof that forms a groove on the upper surface for receiving a side edge of a cap visor. A threaded shaft extends from one of the block members and alternately continues with a threaded bore on the other block member so that rotation of the screw in the shaft moves the blocks closer or farther apart. A user can bend a cap visor to a desired curvature by securing the visor within the block grooves and moving the blocks a select distance until the desired curvature is achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,575 issued to Scharrenberg relates to another apparatus and method of reforming cap visors. The device includes a visor shaped upper member having a pair of adjustable retention plate strips that snap to each other for bending and retaining a cap visor. The pair of elongated retention plate devices are attached to the upper visor member that is laid on top of the visor. The visor member then bends the cap visor as the two retention plate strips are attached together at the desired juncture the user demands.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,063 issued to Fricano relates to a combination cap hanger and cap visor press that includes spring loaded gripping members with a curved form to receive a cap visor. The curvature of the gripping members and the force of the spring combine to press the cap visor into a desired shape. The device has a hanging member portion that is formed in the gripping member to allow the cap to be hung by the visor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,508 issued to Powers provides a retention hook tab with a barb located within a vehicle to insert the cap visor and support the cap out of the way while not being worn.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,589 issued to Biehl relates to a cap press including a cylindrical base portion for stretching the body of the cap and a visor clamp with a pair of jaws operably connected to press the cap visor into a predetermined shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,719 issued to Otteson et al. relates to a cap shaping and drying device having a mesh support frame for the crown and a wire framed projection member for supporting and shaping the visor and is particularly useful for allowing the crown and cap to keep the shape the user intends after washing and drying time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,428 issued to Robak is essentially another cap visor shaping device that consists of a rectangular arched body with a molded hollow sleeve on each end and a molded hanger type hook in the center portion of the body. On one end is a cylindrical sleeve for inserting the visor of a cap and on the other end is another cylindrical sleeve to insert the visor of another cap for shaping. The device has a hanger feature between the two cylinders to hang the hat on a clothes hanger rod.
Thus, many different devices exist in prior art for bending and shaping the baseball cap type visor, although none addresses the need for a replaceable brace to permanently maintain a user selectable shape of a baseball cap type visor while also adorning and protecting the visor of the ball cap from normal wear and tear during normal use. The present invention addresses these and other needs in the art.